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President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East may visit the troubled aid distribution sites inside Gaza as part of his visit to Israel after another 48 people were reportedly killed while waiting for food on Wednesday.
Steve Witkoff is en route to Israel to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza following Trump’s call for the US and other nations to “get some food” to the refugee population as famine looms over the Palestinian enclave.
As part of the work, Witkoff could enter Gaza to visit the controversial distribution sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), Axios reported.
“The president wants to know more about what the humanitarian situation in Gaza is in order to know how to get more assistance to civilians in Gaza,” a US official with knowledge of the trip told the outlet.
The GHF sites, which are guarded by armed Israeli soldiers, have been accused of failing to meet humanitarian principles and have been where more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while waiting for food, according to the United Nations’ human rights office.
The sites had served as the only way for Palestinians to receive aid after Israel ended its total blockade in the spring, with other humanitarian groups refusing to work with the GHF and the UN unable to deliver supplies through an active war zone.
While Israel has eased some of the restrictions following international outcry over the images of starvation in Gaza, the trip to receive aid remains perilous, with at least 48 people killed and dozens injured at the Zikim Crossing while waiting for food on Wednesday, according to local hospitals that received the bodies.
It remains unclear who shot the victims, as both the Israeli military and armed Palestinian gangs have previously fired into crowds of people desperately looking to get food.
The Israeli military, which has defended such shootings in the past as a means to halt threats to its personnel at the distribution sites, did not immediately comment on the latest bloodshed.
The killings came just hours after overnight Israeli strikes and gunfire killed another 46 Palestinians, 30 of whom were in the crowds waiting for food, according to local health officials.
Seven more children also died on Wednesday due to malnutrition-related causes, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
Along with addressing the crisis in Gaza, Witkoff is set to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about broader policy involving the war with Hamas, including prospects for a new cease-fire deal and hostage exchange plan, according to Axios.
Witkoff had withdrawn his team from Qatar last week after accusing Hamas of being “selfish” in the negotiations, with the US and Israel saying they will explore “alternative” means to rescue the 50 remaining hostages in Gaza.
With Post wires
English (US)